College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Bisexual Women’s Female Friendships: Predictors and Outcomes of Sexual Identity Disclosure(2020-05) Parekh, Nina; Mohr, JonathanThis study examined Asian and White bisexual women’s sexual orientation disclosure to their female friends, including the relation of disclosure to racial and sexual identity, individual well-being, and friendship quality. It was hypothesized that Asian bisexual women would be less likely to disclose their sexual minority status to Asian friends and more likely to friends of differing racial/ethnic identities, as well as less likely to monosexual friends. Also, sexual identity disclosure for all participants, regardless of race/ethnicity, was expected to be positively associated with both friendship quality and individual well-being. A sample of 324 bisexual women completed measures focused on their demographic information, personal self-esteem, self-authenticity, satisfaction with life, and perceived social support, as well as their interpersonal level of outness, validation, trust, intimacy, and overall friendship. Results from multilevel models indicated that participant race/ethnicity interacted with friend race/ethnicity and sexual orientation in predicting disclosure: Asian bisexual women’s disclosure level was higher with same-race/ethnicity friends but unrelated to whether the friend was LGQ. In contrast, White bisexual women’s disclosure level was unrelated to similarity of the friend’s race/ethnicity but was lower among friends viewed as LGQ. Disclosure of bisexuality was positively associated with friendship quality at both the within-person and between-person levels, and was positively related to self-esteem, life satisfaction, and perceptions of social support from friends.Item TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN? ASSESSING THE DISTINCTNESS OF STIGMA CONCEALMENT AND DISCLOSURE PROCESSES(2013) Jackson, Skyler; Jackson, Skyler D; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Past scholarship is divided regarding whether stigma concealment and disclosure represent a unidimensional construct. This study used an online survey to investigate the distinctness of these stigma management processes among 298 sexual minority undergraduate and graduate students. The association demonstrated between stigma concealment and disclosure in this investigation suggests that they are related but ultimately distinct aspects of identity management. This finding was reinforced by numerous cases in which these stigma management variables uniquely predicted factors of psychological health (depression and life satisfaction) or aspects of identity adjustment (self-stigma, acceptance concerns, membership esteem, and identity strength). Additionally, as compared to stigma disclosure, stigma concealment was found to be a better predictor of both factors of psychological health and one aspect of identity adjustment (acceptance concerns). The implications of these results are discussed in light of literature on individuals with indiscernible stigmatized identities and may inform clinical practice and future research.Item Characterizing Therapist Self-Disclosure in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy(2013) Pinto-Coelho, Kristen Giddens; Hill, Clara E; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This mixed-methods study examined therapist self-disclosure (TSD) in 16 cases of naturalistic therapy to describe how real therapists use self-disclosure with real clients and to explore which characteristics of TSD contribute to its effectiveness. Judges coded 185 TSD events from 115 sessions of psychodynamic psychotherapy for type (facts, feelings, insight, strategy); whether disclosures were reassuring, challenging, both, or neither; intimacy level; quality level; and initiator. Relationships among these characteristics and clients' session outcome ratings (Real Relationship Inventory and Working Alliance Inventory) were examined using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Likelihood of disclosure occurrence and certain disclosure types and characteristics were related to client post-session ratings of the real relationship and the working alliance. Higher-intimacy disclosures (moderately intimate) were associated with stronger client ratings of the real relationship and the working alliance. It is argued that therapist self- disclosure is multifaceted and complex. Implications for research, training, and practice are discussed.